“Thanks to God and u for helping me open my eyes. I think God was telling me not to go in there. I felt like a voice inside of me (through you) was telling me that abortion was not the best choice.”

This was quoted from a letter I recently received from a mom who is due in a few weeks. She has a very large family and had come to the abortion center when she discovered she was pregnant…again. I do not want to share any specific information that would identify this woman, but this unborn child was one of over a dozen children she had carried!

When she came to the abortion center, our team as always called out to her. She quickly agreed to go on the HELP Pregnancy Center mobile ultrasound unit. Once she stepped onto the mobile clinic bus, she assured us that she did not want an abortion. She said she had gone in the abortion center only for an ultrasound. However, they told her they could not find the baby. They told her she was miscarrying. She insisted she knew she was not, and wanted us to show her the baby. She insisted she WANTED the baby. She said she would not do an abortion. She said the abortion center was offering to do a D and C, but she had heard us call out, and decided to do our free ultrasound instead.

I listened carefully and found many portions of her story conflicted each other. She seemed to slip up in her assertion she wanted the baby, indicating there was no way she could afford or care for another child. I felt certain she was not being truthful about not wanting an abortion. Thus, I counseled as though she was abortion-determined. As we always train our counselors, I focused on the three talking points: God, humanity of the baby, and resources.  

We shared the Gospel and she insisted she knew God. Since she listed herself as unmarried on our intake form and this  baby was one of more than a dozen children out of wedlock, I did not believe she had truly submitted her life to Jesus. She was not living as God would have her live. But we spent the next hour sharing Biblical truths not only in terms of her salvation, but in terms of what a life submitted to the Lord would look like, specifically in regards to the commandments for sexual purity and protection of innocent humans. She prayed with us, and seemed genuinely grateful for our words directing her back to God.

Sadly, we could not find a clear heartbeat on the ultrasound. However, for a moment, both the nurse and I thought we saw a flickering that might be the heart. The nurse advised she go to the ER. She might be miscarrying, but that moment of a flicker we thought we saw might have been a heartbeat.

She called us later. The baby was alive. She had gone to the ER. They had done an intervaginal ultrasound and found the heartbeat. She told us she was very grateful for us. She signed up for a Love Life mentor and was very thankful for all the help.

Fast forward several months. I received the letter which I quoted above. She had been asking about other issues and was also thanking me for being there when she had come to the center.  I then said I was so grateful she had NOT had the abortion. At that point, she admitted that is exactly what she HAD intended, but the presence of our team and our pleas to consider God and the precious life He had given her changed her mind.

Even in the tangled deception of her heart, the apparent lack of detectible life in her womb, and the severity of her circumstances, the word of God opened her eyes. A baby was saved from death, and a woman was saved from the terrible repercussions of killing her own child. Praise God for His mercies and grace in letting us be a part of this miracle!

“… I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’”Acts‬ 26‬:17‬-18‬ ‬‬‬‬‬‬